This apparatus is directed to an adjustable and presettable odometer which counts in ascending or descending order. In driving the highways of this country, one will often notice the mileage posts which are adjacent to the side of the highway for indicating the mileage from a point of entry on the highway to some point where the highway either begins or terminates. Such an arrangement is of great benefit to a traveler. However, a traveler normally does not utilize these mileage markers fully because his path of travel will not precisely coincide with the locus of the mileage markers. For instance, a given highway may have upwards of one thousand miles measured and marked with individual mileage markers, while the traveler may use only 238 miles of that highway. Moreover, the traveler may be on the highway on a given date, traveling where the markers are in ascending order, and, on his return trip, the markers will then read in descending order. The traveler is thus required to exercise certain arithmetic conversions by adding in or subtracting out base numbers to convert the mileage marker system to conform with his specific needs and requirements. Sometimes, the arithmetic is conveniently easy, but, more often than not, it is not so easy that it can be done in the head of a person viewing the mileage markers, and, quite often, no benefit whatsoever is obtained from the mileage markers.
The present invention is an apparatus which more readily utilizes the mileage markers. It is an odometer which can be set to match mileage markers. Moreover, it accommodates mileage markers or kilometer posts, also. It should be recognized that most highways are presently marked in mileage utilizing the English set of units, but this is probably going to change in the near future so that many highways will be marked in kilometers. Indeed, the advent of the metric system in this country is a foregone conclusion; it is the awkward, in-between time when the difficulties arise with converting back and forth between English and metric units. The present invention is an odometer which can measure distances in English or metric units. The apparatus accomplishes scale conversion so that the output can read in any arbitrary type of unit desired. Accordingly, the present invention yields an odometer which is presettable to any specific number. It is able to count up or down towards any other number. It can count by any scale measure so that it will accommodate both metric or English units of measure. Lastly, it is a portable, removable device to be used with any vehicle desired.